News Story

Residents of the Garvaghy Road have indicated that “enough is enough” as the Portadown District of the Orange Order renew efforts to secure a long-refused return parade.

The message came after a meeting of “several hundred” residents in the Co Armagh town on Tuesday evening.

The Parades Commission will have to rule on the latest application for 60 order members to take part in the proposed Drumcree parade on Sunday September 27.

The commission, which adjudicates on contentious parades in Northern Ireland, was heavily criticised by unionist politicians and the Orange Order after a High Court ruling last month that quashed its most recent determination over the Drumcree parade.

The Parades Commission has blocked the order from marching along the Garvaghy Road in July every year since 1998.

Unionist politicians have called for the resignation of the commissioners, including chairwoman Professor Evelyn Collins, after the ruling.

One commissioner, Billy Gamble, who had attracted criticism, has resigned but the chairwoman has remained in post.

Speaking after the meeting, Sinn Féin Upper Bann MLA John O’Dowd said: “The message from the hall was quite clear, ‘enough was enough’.

“This community wants to continue to live in peace. It wants to continue to have the opportunities that have been created over the last 28 years in the absence of Orange Order marches forced through this area.

“So the message was clear, this issue is closed, go home and allow this community and your community to live in peace.”

Breandán Mac Cionnaith, from the Garvaghy Road Resident Coalition, also challenged those in political unionism to “reassess what they’re at”.

“Is it right that an organisation can start to terrorise an entire community again, because what was felt in the meeting from the local residents was the experiences that people went through in the 1990s and their fears about what happened to them could happen to their children and young people,” he added.